[GWSG] Cutting soot; Totten totters; India's power; corp. solar & wind; states building interstate charging network

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Cutting soot emissions from (among others) coal use, wood fires, gas flaring, and diesel engines could cut Arctic melting by 2/3 in the short term, providing more time to move to renewable power sources.  https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/dec/21/cutting-soot-emissions-arctic-ice-melt-climate-change



2.  The ice shelf now blocking East Antarctica's largest glacier, Totten, is weakened by a six mile trough of running warm water.  The shelf could break off within a decade, freeing the Totten to slide into the sea with enough ice to raise global levels by eleven feet.  https://www.wunderground.com/news/east-antarctica-rapid-ice-melt-climate-change



3.  The expansion of solar and wind power in India has obviated the need for new coal plants.  Indian now expects to produce 57% of its power renewably by 2027.    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/21/india-renewable-energy-paris-climate-summit-target  Some of the new solar power will be off the grid, distributed among isolated village.  Some will be part of a new $1.8 billion grid project linking 34 solar parks in 21 states.  https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-21/india-investing-1-8-billion-on-lines-to-transmit-solar-power?utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=1d60472c8b-Clean_Economy_Wire12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-1d60472c8b-326454481



5.  US corporations have favored wind power over solar about 6:1.  While prices for both have fallen, wind power is cheaper ($,02/kwh for wind vs. $03/kwh for solar on a commercial contract).  Because both are becoming, and in many regions have become, cheaper than fossil fuel power, Trump is not expected to have much impact on the growth of US commercial renewable power.  Much of the new renewable use is through offsets, in which the power is not generated in the same region as it is used.  https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/dec/21/solar-wind-energy-renewables-google-microsoft-amazon



6.  Colorado, Utah, and Nevada are cooperating on electric vehicle recharging network to cover the interstate highways which run through the states.  It is funded in part by the fine that Volkswagen paid for its devices which distorted their diesel cars' emissions in state tests.  http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2016/12/20/colorado-to-collaborate-with-utah-nevada-on.html?ana=RSS%26s%3Darticle_search&utm_source=Inside+Climate+News&utm_campaign=1d60472c8b-Clean_Economy_Wire12_10_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_29c928ffb5-1d60472c8b-326454481  ?

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.unf.edu/pipermail/gwsg/attachments/20161222/3fc4043d/attachment.html